Delia Smith: I'm backing Labour to save the NHS because it can't be treated like a supermarket

She warns that another Tory government would be a “recipe for disaster” for the health service

Pledge: Delia Smith and her mother Etty Smith have pledged their allegiance to Labour Party in the May 2015 elections (Photo: Albanpix.com)

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Cookery legend Delia Smith has made a fervent plea to voters – back Labour to save the NHS from “grave danger”.

She warns that another Tory government would be a “recipe for disaster” for the health service.

Writing exclusively for the Daily Mirror, Britain’s bestselling cookery author says the country cannot afford to see the NHS privatised or “run like a supermarket.”

She tells how her mother Etty, now aged 96, lost her 18-month old brother because the family could not afford to send for a doctor to treat his ­pneumonia.

“What I believe profoundly is the party that campaigned for and created the NHS is the best one to nurture and sustain it for the future.

“We are all fully aware of the strain the NHS is under, and we each have a duty to do all we can to preserve this most precious asset, that makes such a vital ­contribution to human wellbeing in the UK.

“We cannot afford to allow it to fall into the wrong hands. And we cannot afford to see the NHS privatised or run like a supermarket. That would be a recipe for disaster,” she writes.

Legend: Delia Smith (Photo: PA)

Delia has never publicly declared her Labour allegiance before but says she has spoken out because she fears not just for the NHS but also the future of the country.

She will ram home her message when she appears alongside Ed ­Miliband and Ed Balls at an election rally on the south coast tomorrow.

With three days to polling day, the Labour leader will launch his strongest and most personal attack of the campaign against Mr Cameron – saying his record on the NHS is a disgrace.

Mr Miliband will say: “Our NHS is in huge danger. It’s fighting for its life because of choices this government has made.

“We’ve got people queuing out the doors of GPs’ surgeries, unable to see a doctor, one million people last year waiting over four hours in A&E, seriously ill people lying on trolleys in corridors for hours on end.

“We’ve even seen a treatment tent put up in a hospital car park. David Cameron calls his record a success. It’s not. It’s a disgrace. I know what makes the NHS strong: care, compassion and co-operation, not privatization, fragmentation and competition.”

Labour will also demand the Tories come clean by publishing the report that they ­commissioned from former supermarket boss Lord Rose on NHS ­reorganisation.

Lord Rose reportedly completed his study more than six months ago but it has yet to be released by Health ­Secretary Jeremy Hunt.

Meanwhile, a group of 50 American doctors and nurses warn that the Tory health reforms could put the NHS on a path towards a US-style system.

In a letter to The Guardian, the US medics fear the Conservatives are taking Britain on a “slippery slope” to “a self-pay market for care.”

They urge us to “preserve” the best public healthcare system in the world.

Jeremy Hunt opens the new emergency department at Lister Hospital

The letter says: “We express concern over recent movements toward ­transferring more and more services to for-profit corporations in your healthcare system and measures that encourage the development of a ­self-pay market for care.”

It continues: “While some may say the changes in England have so far only been at the margins, it is the risk of a slippery slope that should cause concern.

“In the US over recent decades, we have lived the challenges of a ­multi-tiered, for-profit healthcare system.

"Wealthier citizens can afford the best care. At the same time, in the same society, other citizens struggle to pay for care, sometimes choosing between food or medicine.

"We caution the UK against moving in the direction of a system that has created the inequality in the US that we are now working to repair.

“Your universal, public healthcare system is an example to the world, and ­something of which Britain should be proud. We urge you to preserve it.”

The warning follows recent figures from a Freedom of Information request showing that since 2010, 40% of all NHS contracts have gone to private healthcare providers.

Separate research by pressure group NHS Support Federation found private firms won £3.5billion of the £9.6billion of contracts tendered last year – some 37% of the total value.

"But I say to David Cameron: you can’t run the NHS like a supermarket, we don’t want a ­supermarket health service, so publish this report and show us what is in your secret plan.”

“Now we have heard a stark warning of the truth of a second Tory term: a US-style health service where you have to pay to be seen, from the people who know what one looks like.

“American doctors are sounding the alarm that what happens there is beginning to happen here: pay-as-you-go health care, coming soon to a hospital near you.

“They know the signs. We know the signs. We know where these Tory plans are leading us. The evidence is clear: a Tory second term means the stealth privatisation of the NHS.”

Delia Smith 2002 (Photo: BBC)

Delia: Why I'll vote Labour

I have always voted Labour, initially because my parents did. My mother, aged five, witnessed the tragic death of her 18-month-old brother because the family could not afford to send for a doctor to treat his pneumonia.

When I was about seven, 67 years ago, I recall we had a poster with a table light behind it in our front window saying, “Vote Labour for a National Health Service” in the year they were campaigning for it.

Now what they pioneered and worked so hard for – which became the envy of the world – is in grave danger of being compromised or, at worst, ceasing to exist as we know it.

Think back to the glorious opening ceremony to the Olympics in London in 2012 that was beamed around the world, and how we celebrated the NHS as one of our greatest achievements. In the past few years our NHS has gone backwards – we need to save it for the future.

This is a life-defining election, although some people feel politics in general is getting older and a bit tired. But I would ask those to think more deeply.

Labour has more vigour and younger candidates. Our future lies with them – their ideas and vision need to be heard.

Which brings me to something else I care deeply about. For the future wellbeing of our planet, nations are going to have to connect and work together.

How else are we going to cope not just with climate change but over-population, and food and water shortages?

It is madness to suggest that our nation should cut itself adrift and not be part of the global community and its decision-making. Even worse would be splitting the union we already have.

This is a very close election so please vote Labour on Thursday to save our precious NHS, and for a better and brighter future.